A NRL Union Team

[Kurt Angle]

Now this is rubbish....

The reason RL teams have been quite successful at RU 7s in the UK is because RU7s is probably closer to RL than RU 15s

'Closer to'... implying there is a hybrid, and more rules are selected to favour RL players.

What technique or major rule in 7's is not evident in 15-man RU ?
3 man scrums ?

Other than that, it is a game that encompasses all the rules of regular 15 man RU.
Playing styles may differ, but a 15-man side could still employ a continuous running game and be identical in style to 7's.

Unsuccessful, most likely, but no difference as far as the game goes.

RL players however do not employ rucks at all, or throw in's to lineouts, or 0 metres.

For them, it's running skills, passing skills and tackling skills, with some other claptrap thrown in.

So therefore it's a contest of running, passing, tackling (which both sides have) + additional crap that only union does.

All it becomes is a contest of RL's running, passing, tackling skills vs RU's running, passing, tackling skills.

The rules don't favour league, because they are common rules.

League wins however becuase they are more skillful in these areas.

But to claim the rules are closer to League in absurd.

 

[CanadianSteve]

RU is not much more than a hobby masquerading as a sport in Australia.

Yet these full-time hobbyists are able to make 3 out of the last 4 world cups, and win two of them.

Surely union in England and New Zealand is a serious, professionally run sport. And the Wallabies compete with them, so the ARU is surely more than a "hobby."

If both codes combined, with RU inheriting the professional culture and talent RL has, RU would then too become nothing more than Australia beating everyone else by 60 points.

An interesting point. Would Australia really jump that far ahead of the world in union, that it would become uncompetitive? I doubt it. But a lot of this comes down to how big a pool of good athletes are drawn into a sport in a given country. I suppose if the US dropped football (gridiron) and basketball and poured all their athletic resources into RU, they could dominate that sport. Even Canada could be competitive in the world if all our best athletes would choose RU instead of hockey and Canadian football.

 

[Tighthead]

RU is not much more than a hobby masquerading as a sport in Australia.

Well then surely RL is not much more than a hobby masquerading as a sport in every other country that plays it?

'Closer to'... implying there is a hybrid, and more rules are selected to favour RL players...But to claim the rules are closer to League in absurd.

I didn't claim that the rules were closer to League in RU 7s. I said that the number of players on each team means that the constant contest for posession that exists in the 15 man game is not as important, which makes the game closer to RL.

Apart from the scrums (and even this is stretching it), and the one on one strip, there is no continuous contest for posession in league at the breakdown of play.

This is why RL teams have had some success in RU 7s. I said some success. I didn't say that an RL team will beat an RU team at 7s every time, so your inference that this means that RL players are more skilled at 'passing, tackling and running the ball' is rubbish.

 

[Kurt Angle]

No numbnuts, this is what you said...

The reason RL teams have been quite successful at RU 7s in the UK is because RU7s is probably closer to RL than RU 15s

i.e if you had RL at one end, and RU at the other on a bar, RU 7's would be closer to the RL end of the bar.

RU 7's is closer to RL than RU 15's.

But it is still closer to RU 15's than RL 13's.

Accordingly, RL in very few words is based on the skills of running, passing and tackling.

RU in very few words is based on the skills of running, passing, tackling..... as well as the contest for possession.

RU 7's diminshes the skills of the contest for possession, and emphasises the skills of running, passing and tackling.

To make this simple for you, yes there is very few contests in the breakdown. That eliminates a major advantage RU would have, but if you had two opposing sides that just refused to contest the ball, and just use running, passing and tackling, you'd still have a game of RU using RU skills.

These 3 skills are still in effect in RU.

It just comes that RL is much, much more skillful at these 3 skills than RU.

And quite simply about RL not winning, compare like outfits, full time pros vs full time pros.

Any 7's side of NRL calibre players would go through RU 7's undefeated throughout the rest of time.

 

[Tighthead]

Any 7's side of NRL calibre players would go through RU 7's undefeated throughout the rest of time

I guess we will have to see if that ever happens. Otherwise, there is not much to back up your claim.

 

[The Observer]

The rules are interesting, but I think that 9 players is far to few to be playing an 80min game on the field - it would resemble 7's too much, as there would rarely be an authentic contest for posession at the breakdown. The reason RL teams have been quite successful at RU 7s in the UK is because RU7s is probably closer to RL than RU 15s - with so few players on the field, there are few bona fide contests at the breakdown, as neither team wants to commit players that may be needed in defese - there is almost a de facto play the ball - especially when the tackled player is on the ground.

Joker - going by your rules, it is unlikely that a RU prop would get picked, due to the number of players and sacrafice of the set piece. However, it would be an ideal game for open side flankers.

You make some interesting points there, Tighthead; they do hold some merit and I don't necessarily disagree. Its possible that 9 a side Rugby may be too few and may remove most of the contest for the ball as you might see in full 15 man RU.

However, I think one of the main challenges that has faced these cross code games in the past is that the Union and League teams have never been able to compete on an even basis; both have beaten the other on their own rules. If both teams could genuinely compete under a similar Rugby philosophy in 9 a side, then in subsequent games you could increase the number of players to 11, then 13 then maybe 15 a side. That would incrementally bring out more of the structure you'd see in the full version of both codes.

Its possible that front rowers could be picked in this style of game. In RU there are lightweight frontrowers that can scrummage solidly but carry the ball in general play like loose forwards or even backs. Wallaby hookers Jeremy Paul and Adam Freier, prop Matt Dunning are quite maneuvrable like this and could play Nines. English front rowers Steve Thompson and Trevor Woodman are stunning examples of mobile frontrowers. Put them in and they could hammer their opposition.

The game would be ideal for opensides. That's why I'd be wary of putting them in initially. Guys like Phil Waugh and George Smith (who played RL juniors for Manly, and whose brother is at the Roosters) could turn the ball over at will.

It was funny to see in the City Country game, City forward and former Waratah 12 Sam Harris get pinged for ripping the ball off Country fullback Luke Patten - after Patten had been tackled to the ground on a kick return. Harris thought he was still in play but Patten was bewildered!

BTW anyone who thinks hybrid footy games can't work, I coin the example of International Rules football (the AFL/Gaelic hybrid) - those games are played with different:
* fields (oval vs rectangle)
* balls (sphere vs oval)
* posts (four vs Rugby)
* goalkeeper in one
* tackling (vastly different interpretations)

The games still sell out huge stadiums.

 

[Foz]

My team for an NRL Union side.

Hazem El Masri plus 14 any other players.

It worked for England in the world cup.

If I was a union man I would look very very seriously at this guy.

 

[Murphdogg1]

ok time for some reality

Johns would NOT make it in union as a first five eight simply because like most league players he lacks real distance on his punts, he would end up kicking it down the throats of players like Rokocoko, Caucaunibuca, Howlett and Muliaina who would absolutely BURN the NRL union team.

Meanwhile CARLOS SPENCER would carve him up in both league and union as he has skill that even a guy like johns can only dream of.

If i had to pick a league/union team i would prefer someone like Lockyer at 10

and if the league boys think union is soft then they should try running the ball at Jerry Collins and Sam Tuitupou

 

[Magpie Nick]

15. Lockyer
14. Tahu
13. Berrigan
12. Barrett
11. M. Gidley

10. Johns
9. Buderus

8. Tallis
7. Kennedy
6. Menzies
5. Mason
4. Wiki
3. Webcke
2. Riddell
1. Bailey

16. Clinton
17. Davico
18. Gower
19. Carlaw
20. Wing
21. A. Walker
22. Hodges